New Years, Alone
by TiredOfTomorrow
Summary: An aging Qrow Branwen visits Taiyang Xiao Long for a drink on New Year's Eve. [One-Shot] [Minor one-sided Qrow x Summer, with very VERY minimal WhiteRose and Bumbleby]


**A/N: Banged this out in less than 4 days with minimal proofreading :\ , sorry in advance for any errors.**

**Anyhow, I wanted to write a piece about the remains of team STRQ looking back on their past loves and their own families, and I figured what better way than to tie it into the cusp of a new decade emerging in real life. Either way, hope you enjoy, and for those reading on New Year's Eve 2020, hope all y'all's celebrations are good ones.**

* * *

It was cold on the island of Patch, but it wasn't bitterly cold to the point that it would've stopped Qrow from trekking through the snow-covered forests on the island. In fact, even though it was chilly enough that Qrow had to wear his old trench coat for his journey, the weather forecasters were calling this the warmest winter Patch had seen in decades.

Qrow was feeling all 52 years of his age as he trudged through the melting snow. His lungs were starting to burn, and his knees were beginning to creak and ache with each step. Still, Qrow carried on, since only 30 feet in front of him laid his destination: a tiny, wooden house that sat in a clearing in the middle of the forest.

Qrow made it to the porch of the house and gave the front door three loud knocks. As he heard the plodding sound of footsteps from inside the house, he peered down to his right hand and made sure that the bottle of whiskey he had been cradling since he set arrived on the island was still intact.

The door in front of Qrow opened as Taiyang stood in the doorframe, his eyes wide with shock at the guest who just showed up on his front porch. Qrow had to admit: asides from the stray grey hairs in his beard, Tai was looking damn good for his age.

"Qrow?" Tai questioned.

"Tai," Qrow said with a smirk.

"What are you doing here?" Tai asked, confusion settling in his voice. "And how did you get all the way here? Did you walk through the whole forest just to get here?"

"Tai, I ain't that old. You make it sound like a little walk could kill me," Qrow said with a smirk. "Old buddy, I'm here because it's New Year's Eve, and I got no plans, nowhere to go, and no one fun to drink with was available. So, I settled for my last, disappointing resort: you."

Tai rolled his eyes in response. "Yeah, ha ha, very funny, Qrow. Get all the cheap shots in while you can," Tai said, dripping with sarcasm. "Come on in and warm up."

The minute Tai turned his back on him to go back inside, Qrow's face began to brighten with a smile, a glint in his eye from knowing that he would be in good company for New Year's Eve.

* * *

"Hey, I'm not interrupting anything important by coming here, am I?" Qrow hollered as he began to slip off his overcoat.

"No, no," Tai yelled from the kitchen, "I was just finishing tending to my tomatoes."

"Tomatoes?" Qrow asked with a scoff. "Since when did you become a tomato farmer?"

"Well, I had nothing better to do at home, all by myself," Tai responded. "Gotta keep myself busy, so I'm just growing a small plant over by the windowsill."

"So it's just you at home?" Qrow asked.

"Yup!" Tai hollered. "Yang's in Menagerie with Blake for the holidays, and Ruby is at her sister-in-law's house."

"You mean Winter's?" Qrow said.

"Yeah, why?" Tai hollered back.

"Just wondering," Qrow responded.

"_At least that means I won't have to worry about getting my head cut off by the eldest Schnee,_" Qrow thought to himself as Tai emerged from the kitchen with two glasses with ice in his hands.

"Yup," Tai said as he placed the glasses on the coffee table in front of where Qrow was sitting. "Usually at least Ruby would be home for the holidays, but since she's now happily married to the heiress of the biggest Dust company in the world, she gets invited to all the shindigs of the 'more-important' family."

Qrow scoffed.

"Well, someone's bitter," Qrow drawled as he unscrewed the bottle of whiskey and filled the two glasses to the brim.

"Sorry," Tai replied. "It's just...this is the first time all my kids have been out of the house for the holidays. I guess I'm just getting used to being all alone, again."

Tai and Qrow both grabbed ahold of their drinks, clinked their glasses together, and took a drink. Qrow grimaced as the burning sensation of the whiskey slid down his throat, then exhaled.

"You good?" Tai asked with an amused smile. "Looks like the old crow's lost his edge."

"Been a while since my last drink," Qrow said. "I've been watching how much I drink nowadays. I only drink on special occasions."

"Today's special enough, huh?" Tai responded.

"Hey, it's New Year's, man," Qrow responded. "There's not a cold chance in hell I'm going to spend tonight sober."

"Heh. S'pose that's reason enough," Tai said before both took another drink.

* * *

Halfway through the bottle of whiskey later, both Tai and Qrow were laughing hysterically as Tai slammed his drink down on the wooden coffee table.

"So, you know how after we got you in the skirt-"

"Kilt, mind you," Qrow slurred. "I thought it was a kilt."

"Qrow, buddy, no one in their right minds would think that was a kilt," Tai snickered, "You gotta face the music, man."

"Alright, alright," Qrow relented. "Go on."

Tai's grin increased tenfold and his eyelids began to droop, the whiskey clearly beginning to take effect as he continued with his story.

"Alright, so you know how when you first came out in your skirt, you slam your leg on the table and you say to Summer, 'Like what you see?'" Tai said.

"I...vaguely remember…" Qrow said, clearly straining his memory while he grinned.

"Port tried to do that exact same thing when he was over," Tai said, beginning to crack up as he remembered the night.

"Do you know what that jerk did?" Tai said, grinning. "He slammed his boot into the table, left a big dent right here in the dining table, wobbled over, and then went…'whoa, WHOA!'...and fell flat on his ass, onto the ground!"

Tai and Qrow both burst out in hysterical, cackling laughter.

"Man, Port must've shook the whole house when he hit the ground," Qrow snickered.

"It...it was like watching those circus elephants on unicycles, when they fall on the ground," Tai said, eliciting a laugh from both of them. "I thought he was gonna start an earthquake."

Tai's laugh comment must've been the final comedic straw for Qrow, as he burst out in shrieking, piercingly loud laughter and practically fell out of his chair, doubled up. Taiyang continued his own bellowing chuckles as he stumbled out of his own chair to scoop Qrow up and get him back into his own seat.

"Trust me, I would pay all the Lien in the world to see 'the world's most balanced, coordinated huntsman professor' to fall down like that," Qrow responded.

Tai laughed and then nodded. "Yang was there too. I was scared that I was going to have to explain to my daughter that her professor had just died in our kitchen because he's the world's biggest idiot."

Qrow groaned. "You mean to tell me you told Yang about the whole 'Kilt Incident?'" Qrow asked.

"Hey man," Tai said, grinning, "It's better she hears it from me rather than you, otherwise she's gonna grow up with a very screwed up perception of what's a kilt and what's a skirt."

"Buzz off," Qrow responded, making Tai laugh with satisfaction that he had Qrow up in arms. "So, what other pranks of ours did you tell your daughter?"

"Not much," Tai responded. "I was about to tell her about the time we tried to fill the fountain in the courtyard with Koi fish, but everyone didn't know it was a prank and they thought that it was a gift from the Gods or whatever."

"Aw, that was amateur hour!" Qrow responded, grinning. "C'mon, Tai, we've done better than that. Remember when we filled Professor Peach's office with packing peanuts?"

"I remember that one!" Tai exclaimed. "She spent, like, a whole week trying to clean those out before she just gave up and declared that she was going to move offices."

"I just remember that my sister came up with the idea to steal all the musty gym uniforms and socks and put them underneath all the peanuts, so that she'd have to dig through the peanuts like a diver to get rid of the smell," Qrow said, laughing.

"You know, whenever we came up with a prank, Raven always found ways to add those perfect little cherries on the top to make it really good," Tai said with a snicker.

Both Qrow and Tai's laughter soon began to fade. Qrow began to understand the shifting mood in the room after he saw Tai's smile began to erode off his face.

"Yeah, that was Raven," Tai softly said.

Qrow nodded silently before taking another sip of his whiskey.

"She was always a prankster, even growing up in the tribe," Qrow replied.

Tai nodded silently this time, before he turned to Qrow and looked him dead in his eyes.

"Sometimes…" Tai began, before trailing off.

"'Sometimes' what?" Qrow pried.

"Ah, forget it, Qrow, don't worry-"

"Nah, come on, Tai," Qrow continued. "Don't worry, you can talk to me, buddy."

Tai took a deep breath before exhaling. "I don't know…" Tai paused. "Sometimes, I really wonder how our lives would be different if Raven had stuck around."

Qrow's face hardened.

"Yeah, well, we'll never know," Qrow said. "She went ahead and made the choice to abandon all of us for herself."

Tai turned to Qrow.

"Qrow...you're still angry at her?" Tai asked softly.

"Course I am," Qrow said. "She was selfish, and she tore our team apart. Then, she tore our family apart. And the worst part? Yang had to bear the worst of it, growing up without knowing her mother."

Tai nods quietly.

"I could never forgive her for that either," Tai whispered. "But, having the time to think about it, I think I can at least understand why she is the way she is."

Qrow looked up and saw Tai staring off into the distance, his eyes focusing on something far away.

"I just think...I let her down," Tai said. "She told me all about the liars and cheats you guys grew up with in the tribe. I think because of that, she always tried to see only the good in people. It was her own way to try to cling onto her own faith in humanity. And... I think she just kept getting hurt when she found the ugly side of people."

Tai quickly raised his glass to his mouth and finished off the last of his drink before wiping off his mouth.

"I shoulda been up-front with her from the get-go, before we started a family," Tai said. "I think she put me up on some pedestal when we first married, because of that. And when she found out that I'm just not that perfect guy, she got let down hard. And that was her breaking point."

Qrow shook his head.

"That's not an excuse for the way she treats people," Qrow said, "How she treated you and Yang. I grew up in that hell-hole of a tribe, same as her. But I didn't become some murder-hungry bandit like her. What's her excuse?"

"Well...she's not you, Qrow," Tai said. "She...just couldn't rectify her worldview like you did. And that was her downfall."

Qrow sighed.

"I guess I don't blame her either, Tai," Qrow said. "But I just wish she would've let us help her. We were all there for her. She had a team that cared for her, a family that loved her. But she chose to push us away and fight the whole world. Including us."

Qrow grimaced and took another deep swig of his whiskey before staring down at his drink in silence.

* * *

It was the time of the night that the alcohol was really doing a number on Qrow and Tai. Gone was the giddy laughter and rose-colored reminiscing about past mischief, replaced instead by silence as the two men were quietly keeping to their own thoughts, replaced only by occasional sips from the last of Qrow's bottle of whiskey. Still, it was a comfortable silence - one earned through over 30 years of shared hardships and a mutual understanding.

Tai had gone to lay down on the couch in the family room in an effort to rest his head and alleviate some of the nausea he was feeling. Qrow had brought a glass of water for Tai to help alleviate some of his sickness.

"Thanks, pal," Tai said as he grabbed the cool glass of water.

"Don't mention it," Qrow said as he pulled up a chair to the sofa, next to Tai.

Tai slurped a big gulp of water before turning back to Qrow.

"Qrow, I think I'm gonna die alone," Tai moaned.

Qrow turned his head back to Tai, his face full of confusion at this sudden outburst, before he burst out laughing.

"You're talking crazy, Tai. You're not gonna die alone-"

"I'm being serious, Qrow," Tai said. "You don't see me laughing, do you?"

Qrow then quieted down his laughter, realizing the gravity of Tai's words.

"What in the world made you think you're gonna die alone, Tai?"

"I'm all alone now, Qrow," Tai moaned, "Look at me. Big house in the middle of the woods, with no one in it but me."

"Tai, you still got your daughters," Qrow said. "People who care about you. C'mon. Don't say all that."

Qrow silently laughed and shook his head.

"If anyone's dying alone, it'll be me," Qrow said.

"Aw, come on," Tai said, "52 is the new 20, man. You still got plenty of time to meet someone, start a family-"

"Not really," Qrow said. "Huntsman missions keep getting more and more dangerous, and I just keep getting older and slower. It's only a matter of time."

"Well, what about retiring?" Tai asked. "It'll be a lot safer."

"What, so I can be bored out of mind? Become a tomato farmer like you?"

"Screw off," Tai said, laughing before taking another drink of water.

"Nah, man. I'm not gonna retire," Qrow responded. "Action's the juice for me. I'm just going to keep going and going, until one mission finally becomes my last."

There was a long pause in the room before Tai turned his head to Qrow.

"...You mean like Summer?" Tai whispered.

"Yeah. Like Summer, I guess," Qrow said.

Tai sighs.

"You know, when Summer left, a lot of people missed her," Tai said. "I missed her a lot. If you go on a mission and don't come back, like Summer did, a lot of people are going to miss you too."

Qrow silently shook his head.

"You think I don't know that? But I'm too damn old to bother trying to fix my nature now," Qrow said. "And, sooner or later, everyone's got an expiration date. If I'm gonna go, I'm at least going to go doing the one thing I love."

Qrow took one final swig of whiskey before setting down on the table next to the sofa.

"I, uh...I know Summer didn't deserve to go out like that, though." Qrow said.

Tai turned his head so he looked straight up at the ceiling.

"You know, after the dust settled with everything with Raven, Summer and I were looking forward to our future so much," Tai said. "When we had Ruby, we had all these plans. We were gonna build a home for us, raise our kids together, grow old together...And then, one day, she was gone."

Qrow looked over at Tai. In the corner of Tai's eye, Qrow could see a single, glistening tear well up, and then trickle down Tai's face.

"How does someone just move on from that?" Tai said. "I mean, it's been three decades later, and I still don't think I've moved on."

Qrow sighed.

"I don't think any of us have, Tai," Qrow whispered. "But you got to, for the people you love in your life."

"Qrow, you don't get it, man," Tai whimpered, more tears beginning to stream down his face. "She was my everything. I loved her-"

"I loved her too," Qrow said.

"Qrow, you don't understand-"

"No, you don't understand," Qrow interrupted. "I _loved_ her too."

Silence permeated the air before Tai's face slowly scrunched up in confusion and he sat up on the sofa, his gaze now fixed on Qrow.

"What do you mean, you _loved_ her?" Tai asked.

Qrow curled his lips and shrugged his shoulders.

"Exactly that. I loved Summer Rose," Qrow said.

"I don't follow," Tai said, his face contorting further in confusion.

"You're not the only one who fell for Summer," Qrow said. "From the minute Ozpin saddled us together in a team, I knew I was in love with her. Her smile, her warmth..."

Tai scoffed.

"I thought you said you never loved anyone," Tai said.

"Yeah, well, I lied to you, old buddy," Qrow said.

Tai leaned forward, his face close to Qrow and his gaze practically burning holes into Qrow's head.

"You're not joking, are you?" Tai said.

"I'm dead serious," Qrow said. "Dead as the reaper."

Tai then leaned back, his face still displaying shock and disbelief.

"Jeez," Tai said, "30 years I've known you, and you never once told me."

"Summer didn't know either," Qrow said. "Or maybe she did, but she just didn't say anything."

"Why didn't you tell any of us?" Tai asked softly.

"Bad luck, remember?" Qrow said, pointing a finger towards himself. "I could never be with her, even if she loved me back-"

"You didn't know that for sure," Tai said. "I mean, your semblance isn't an exact science. You and her coulda been just fine-"

"If you were me, would you have taken the chance?" Qrow interjected.

Silence fell upon the room again as Tai's face suddenly dropped into a glum frown and he nodded in agreement with Qrow.

"I guess...what I'm trying to say with all this, Tai, is that even after you're kicked to the ground, you just gotta pick yourself up off the ground and keep moving forward for the ones you love, cause that's what Summer would want."

Qrow sat up from his chair and then planted himself next to Tai, wrapping his arm around his shoulder.

"You know," Qrow said, scoffing, "Summer's unknowingly broken my heart, twice. Once, when I realized I could never love her, twice when I realized she was gone forever. But I know I can't let it stop me, because that's not Summer would want."

Tai cocked his head and turned his blue eyes towards Qrow, meeting his gaze.

"She gave her life as a huntress, trying to make a safer world for her family," Qrow said. "Summer gave everything for the ones she loved, including you, Tai. Do you really think Summer would've wanted you to be miserable and alone because of her.?"

Tai paused to think for a bit, and then shook his head. Qrow smiled, and patted Tai on the back before standing up.

"No one deserves happiness more than you do, Tai," Qrow said. "You earned it."

Qrow turned his back and headed to the kitchen to see if he could scrounge up another drink from whatever Tai had in his fridge.

"When did you become such an optimist, Qrow?" Tai hollered to Qrow in the kitchen. Qrow simply scoffed.

"I guess your pipsqueak daughter is finally starting to rub off on me," Qrow answered.

* * *

It was currently 12:05 AM in the night, January 1st. The new year had finally begun, and everyone all around Vale was beginning to celebrate. On Patch, the fireworks show that they always had was underway, the night sky thundering with vivacious reds, brightening blues and glimmering white explosions. Tai and Qrow were beginning to feel less disoriented from their alcohol-induced stupor, and made their way outside to the front porch of the house, sitting on an old wooden bench.

"You know, when Yang and Ruby were really young, I used to take them up to the roof of the house and we would watch the fireworks from there," Tai said, turning to Qrow, who was seated at arms length on the bench with Tai.

"Really?" Qrow asked.

"Yeah," Tai said with a grin. "I guess I was a bad father. Looking back on it, I was basically begging for disaster to strike by bringing those kids up on the roof."

"Eh, you gotta teach them to live a little," Qrow said. "At least I know who gave them their adventurous, rebellious side."

Qrow and Tai returned their gaze to the sudden boom of a white and blue firework piercing through the pitch-black sky.

"You know...you still think you can get up on that old roof, Tai?" Qrow asked.

"Heck no," Tai said before he burst out laughing. "I'd probably blow my kneecaps out just trying to climb on the ladder.

Qrow and Tai both shared a chuckle with each other before returning to silence, focusing on the distant _thumps_ of the fireworks in the sky.

"You feeling better, Tai?" Qrow said, turning his head to Tai.

"I am, thanks," Tai said curtly. "I'm sorry I spent the whole night crying and complainin' to ya-"

"Hey, c'mon man," Qrow said. "That's what I'm here for."

Tai smiled and shook his head.

"I guess I just been living by myself for too long, these past couple of years," Tai continued. "Got plenty of time to think, and I just keep thinking to myself how my life could be so much better if I had only did this, or did that…"

"Tai, it's fine. Everyone has regrets in their life," Qrow said. "But just remember, you can't change the past. Instead, you can carve out a better future."

Tai nods, and then turned his gaze to meet Qrow's.

"Let me ask you something," Tai asked. "Do you ever feel regret about not telling Summer how you felt about her?"

"No," Qrow said quickly and firmly. "No, I don't."

"Why not?"

"Well, if I had to regret something I did, it would have to be because I knew that life would be better if I did something differently," Qrow said. "Right now, I'm convinced that if I told Summer that I loved her, life would've been a heck of a lot worse for everyone if I did."

Qrow sighed, his breath creating a plume of smoke out of his mouth into the chilly wintry air. "If I had to do everything in my life again, I would do it exactly the same. Especially since it gave me something I never had growing up."

"What's that?" Tai asked.

"A family," Qrow said. "People to love."

Tai sighed.

"But Qrow...I mean, all that time we spent together as a team...and when I got married to Summer, didn't you feel...I don't know, hurt? Jealous?" Tai asked.

"I did at first," Qrow said. "But, I mean, I realized you two were perfect for each other. I don't think I saw you or Summer that happy before in your lives since I met you, and I'll be damned if I was going to get in the way of that."

Qrow sighed.

"Besides, I finally had something to live for in my life: make sure you and Summer were happy and safe. You guys were my family, and family takes care of each other."

Tai turned his head towards Qrow, his eyes beaming.

"You know, Qrow," Tai said, his eyes beginning to well up with tears again, "I haven't told you this often, but...you're my brother, you know that?"

Qrow paused, as if seemingly ruminating on Tai's comment, before he flashed Tai his signature sly grin and then turned his gaze back to the pitch black sky, now set ablaze with brilliant colors to bring in the New Year.


End file.
